Should I let buyer send a courier?

7sefton

I’ve sold a picture for £100, said collection only or I could deliver locally.

Buyer has paid and has 100% positive feedback, but says they want to arrange a courier to come to my house to collect at their expense. 

I think I saw something once saying this is a red flag, but I’m tempted to say yes. What should I do?

marcia_

7sefton said:

I’ve sold a picture for £100, said collection only or I could deliver locally.

Buyer has paid and has 100% positive feedback, but says they want to arrange a courier to come to my house to collect at their expense. 

I think I saw something once saying this is a red flag, but I’m tempted to say yes. What should I do?

 I wouldn't do it if your ad said collection only. 

There are courier scams but I've also seen other posters say they have done this fine but not a risk I would take 

HampshireH

Personally I wouldn't do it either.

XzavierWalnut

My sister had something similar last year for a 3 piece suite. Buyer said they would put the money in an envelope and give it to the TNT driver, who would come and collect the furniture and give her the money.
As I told her, do you really think a huge organisation like TNT are going to hand over an envelope of cash?
Also, even if TNT would collect it, they would charge more than the Buyer was paying for the furniture.

Abbafan1972

This isn’t a surprise really. 

Have advertised a Casio keyboard on Facebook marketplace & my local next door. 

3 people messaged me and they all said the same thing - they would send a courier to collect the item & hand over the money. 1 said EMS, another said DPD and can’t remember the other one. By the time the 3rd message came through, I was quite irate and sent a few choice words back and I blocked them all. The 1st person that messaged me even said they would pay more to secure the item. I know this is a common scam and won’t fall for it. The item I’m selling is not even high value, so don’t get it. 

subjecttocontract

I've sold quite a few items on EBay where I've offered to let the buyer arrange courier collection.
I make it clear that :
* Payment in full in advance of collection is required.
* Any risk of damage or failed delivery is down to the buyer.
* The courier must wrap, protect & label the item on collection.
I've never had a problem.
Some buyers have spent more on courier collection than the item is worth....but that's not my problem.

soolin

subjecttocontract said:

I've sold quite a few items on EBay where I've offered to let the buyer arrange courier collection.
I make it clear that :
* Payment in full in advance of collection is required.
* Any risk of damage or failed delivery is down to the buyer.
* The courier must wrap, protect & label the item on collection.
I've never had a problem.
Some buyers have spent more on courier collection than the item is worth....but that's not my problem.

The payment in advance bit is the problem here  though. OP refers to ebay so it is managed payments which can be reversed without proof of delivery or collection. No one should be allowing collection on ebay without satisfying the requirements of seller protection.

OP the only safe way to do this is to ensure your buyer knows you will need the courier to provide a scannable QR code that ebay give the buyer to prove collection- there are also ways of doing t manually with a code- but you would need to look into that. Basically buyer needs to know that no QR code means that you will not hand over the item- regardless of sob stories and reports of codes not being received.

Collection in person | eBay

I still don't allow couriers to collect though regardless of whether I know my money is safe or not. If I arrange a courier for an item - or even an RM pick up, I arrange it for a day and rough time I know I am available.  If a buyer arranges it I may be stuck in the house with no way of knowing what's going on.

GadgetGuru

I dont see an issue as long as you follow the Soolin's advice above. 
The buyer will have a QR or collection code. Make sure the buyer is aware that without the code you will not provide the item. The courier will need to bring the code with him, which you input into the eBay app to confirm collection. Then you can release the item. 
If anything should happen and a case is opened via eBay, you will be able to confirm and prove the item was collected. This doesn't however, stop the courier from mishandling the item and the buyer receiving it damaged etc....

subjecttocontract

Years ago I sold a large Chinese vase bought by a guy in Scotland. I spent ages wrapping it with bubble wrap, even made a plywood box for it to go in. Courier arrived, threw it in the back of his van and left. The guy in Scotland contacted me a few days later to tell me it had arrived smashed to pieces. He was going to take it up with the courier because he said he could see the effort I had put in to wrap & protect it. There is no guarantee with couriers.

soolin

subjecttocontract said:

Years ago I sold a large Chinese vase bought by a guy in Scotland. I spent ages wrapping it with bubble wrap, even made a plywood box for it to go in. Courier arrived, threw it in the back of his van and left. The guy in Scotland contacted me a few days later to tell me it had arrived smashed to pieces. He was going to take it up with the courier because he said he could see the effort I had put in to wrap & protect it. There is no guarantee with couriers.

With a collection item a seller is protected thank goodness as long as they have the QR code to show buyers representative collected. If a seller sends direct then the seller is entirely responsible and in the case of your poor vase  you would have needed to refund, so there is a slight advantage for fragile items if buyer arranges collection. 

subjecttocontract

soolin said:

subjecttocontract said:

Years ago I sold a large Chinese vase bought by a guy in Scotland. I spent ages wrapping it with bubble wrap, even made a plywood box for it to go in. Courier arrived, threw it in the back of his van and left. The guy in Scotland contacted me a few days later to tell me it had arrived smashed to pieces. He was going to take it up with the courier because he said he could see the effort I had put in to wrap & protect it. There is no guarantee with couriers.

With a collection item a seller is protected thank goodness as long as they have the QR code to show buyers representative collected. If a seller sends direct then the seller is entirely responsible and in the case of your poor vase  you would have needed to refund, so there is a slight advantage for fragile items if buyer arranges collection. 

It was before QR codes were introduced. The buyer was happy to persue the courier, I didn't need to refund. I have no idea how he got on.